Warriors at the ready...

It is official, even with the low votes, I'm going to attempt TWO POSTS PER DAY throughout November; one post will be a video clip, while the other post will focus on the UK comics!

Oh, and before I forget, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Let's have a villainous post today. One of my favorite panning shots occurs in the season one He-Man episode "Diamond Ray of Disappearance" when the Evil Warriors prepare to attack Castle Grayskull. I love the eerie detail of the bridge leading to Castle Grayskull, the abyss is represented by nothing but black, and of course the fact that this image features the original cast of Evil Warriors; Beast Man, Evil-Lyn, Mer-Man, Trap Jaw and Tri-Klops!


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The nameless King!

November is going to be a slightly crazy time for this Blog. My aim is to publish TWO POSTS PER DAY!

One of the greatest unanswered questions in the entire He-Man and She-Ra mythos occurs in the season two He-Man episode "Things That Go Bump in the Night." What, I hear you ask, is the name of the King of Sallasia, father of the cowardly Prince Glitch? Well, it is King Sallas. Okay, so I know that was not one of the greatest unanswered questions in the entire He-Man and She-Ra mythos, but I had to somewhat glamorize that fact!

Good, wise, brave...

I am at a slight loss as to the status of the video clips; the voting has been surprisingly low and Eric Donelson made a very good point that I myself had considered. I do believe that a lot of people would get enjoyment out of the video clips, as I would showcase scenes that people may have never noticed or truly appreciated. We shall see...

Until then, here is a wonderful panning shot from the season two He-Man episode "Battle of the Dragons." When Granamyr sends He-Man, Man-At-Arms and Orko deep below Darksmoke to retrieve his magic we are surprised by the vast caverns and dangers that threaten the Eternians! One of the more interesting scenes occurs when the heroes have to pass two large statues that come to life, stating that only the good, the wise and the brave may pass by them...


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Video Clips Question!

Today I'm just following up Wednesday's post about video clips on this Blog. Feedback was not what I had hoped for, so I have created a poll for everyone please vote! All it takes is the click of a button!

Like I said if I get a lot of positive feedback then I will put a video clip up throughout the month of November! :)

Video clips?

I've always wanted to upload high quality video clips to this Blog! When Zadoc Angell and I used to run the Episode Review Website video clips were a regular event. Sadly the golden days of the Episode Review Website are now just a distant memory. So after a long hiatus I have decided to resurrect video clips once again! Please let me know what you think! Do you want to see more videos on this Blog? If all runs smoothly and there is an encouraging amount of positive feedback then I will attempt to have a video clip EVERY DAY in the month of November! :)

I have created a test video clip for you to download of He-Man punching the screen! It is an MPEG encoded in DivX format, which results in a beautiful image, but may create a few problems for some of you. I highly recommend visiting the DivX website.

Trollan Convicts...

For your enjoyment here is a model guide illustration of the Trollan Convicts from She-Ra's "The Greatest Magic", the last episode of season one.


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King Liz?

She-Ra's season one episode "The Rock People" presents us with a large monster that exists in the Valley of the Lost. The very noticeable things about the design of this one-shot creature are the odd bone structures protruding from the top of his head. More amusingly Larry DiTillio had already specified the look when he named him King Liz! I always thought that this was such an odd name to give to a monster, but then Larry never tried to do things normally!

A peaceful view...

Here is a lovely looking image from the Ladybird book "Skeletor's Ice Attack" by artist Robin Davies. This peaceful drawing of Prince Adam and Teela could only really take place at one point in the book. You guessed it. The end.


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Magestra, in all her glory...

Here I've assembled an absolutely gorgeous-looking panning shot of Evil-Lyn in disguise as Magestra taken from the season one He-Man episode "The Shaping Staff." I really loved the design of this disguise, and it is a shame that Filmation never used the model again for another character. It was definitely worthy! Especially considering some of the character models they did reuse...


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Mount Zelite.

"The Remedy" is a great episode focusing on friendship and the lengths one friend will go for another. Towards the end of the episode He-Man must enter Mount Zelite in order to complete his quest. However, as this panning shot shows, the entrance is not easily accessible; a huge gorge separating He-Man from his goal. Not only is this a beautiful panning shot, but it effortlessly brings the viewer to the edge of their seat, because we all know that He-Man is going to try and leap the gorge! Also worth mentioning is that as we are treated to this panning shot we can hear the winds blow at such a high altitude...


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Two Bad's Master Game...

Here I present a one page gag story from issue twenty-eight of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. Enjoy the antics of Two Bad, Webstor, Beast Man and the first appearance of M'Yower!


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Charge!

The four Priman scientists really came into their own as The New Adventures of He-Man series got into full flow. In the episode "The Battle for Levitan" the scientists with their newfound courage charge at the Mutants on their ever-faithful robots with Alcon almost-singing an amusing battle cry!

For your listening pleasure, Alcon's charge!

How not to animate Prince Adam!

These two extreme frames from the season two He-Man episode "The Arena" show how not to animate a shocked expression! In the first frame we can see a familiar Prince Adam stock cel which we have seen many times before. Now usually to convey surprise the director would call for the animators to simply create a cel overlay of the character's eyes wider. However on this occasion Filmation decide to animate the character's head and the end result is less than appealing.


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Webstor's fallen in!

Here I have assembled sequential panels that ran over two pages in issue twenty-five of the UK Masters of the Universe comic from a story titled "The Hole Thing". What I like about these panels is that once again the UK comic emphasizes Webstor's ability to escape from anything! Although Webstor is the star in these panels I always laugh at Skeletor's shock, stating the obvious "Oh no! Webstor's fallen in!", and then in the final panel we see him covering his face as Stinkor prepares to attack the heroes.


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Red and Yellow Snake Men!

Who are the red and yellow Snake Men I hear you ask? Issue twenty-seven of the UK Masters of the Universe comic has a story titled "Clan of the Viper!", and in this very story we are introduced to Rattlor and Tung Lashor. Yes, Rattlor and Tung Lashor, the two Snake Men who look different in every single canon! I am not sure at what point Tung Lashor decided to start wearing red lipstick though...


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Battle royal!

In issue one of the UK Masters of the Universe comic in a story titled "Skeletor's Surprise" we are treated to a fun battle royal between the forces of good and evil. While the artwork is not anything to get excited about I always thought the way in which each of the panels showcased one particular hero against one particular villain worked very well!


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Trap Jaw with a gun?

The Secret Files of Scrollos appeared once again in issue eighteen of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. In the image below which highlights the character of Man-E-Faces you can see Trap Jaw shooting at the hero, but not with the arm that we would expect him to. I question the reasoning behind Trap Jaw carrying an actual laser gun, when one of his more familiar arm attachments is his Lasatron!


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Faker's appearance?

Oh my, I have not posted a Faker Blog entry in a while. I must be ill! Faker's appearance in the season one He-Man episode "The Shaping Staff" is a mixed one. It is great to see the villain show up, but we are all disappointed when we see him sporting the exact same colors as He-Man. In my previous Blog entries regarding this villain I have explained why this was the case, but looking at the script for "The Shaping Staff" brings about some interesting facts! In the script by Paul Dini Faker was supposed to be the same color as his toy, hence Skeletor's line to him regarding the Sorceress, "In this dim light she'll think you're He-Man." Also Faker was supposed to be an existing character, not just a moment of magic on Skeletor's part; this was changed at the very last minute, which is why his appearance in the episode feels so rushed!

Ram Man's springs?

One very brief shot stuck in my mind as a child. In the episode "Wizard of Stone Mountain" Ram Man's feet are burnt by the Spirit of Evil causing him to leap into the air. The Filmation artists create a very nice, very brief comical moment where we see that Ram Man's legs really are just giant springs! I first saw this episode in 1984 and did not see it again until 1996; yet this shot always stuck in my mind!


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Happy Hordak!

"A Loss for Words" is a great episode, not only for its very original plot, but also for the beautiful direction and gorgeous expressive animation that Tom Sito provides. Here is an example of just such a shot in the episode. Now Hordak standing, laughing may not strike everyone as a standout moment of animation, but we can see here that the animator has not strictly followed the model sheet and the line work that represents Hordak is slightly exaggerated! While the character is on-model, in this case meaning that all his parts are where they should be, the actual artwork breaks the "rules" set by a model sheet. Of course this scene would get even crazier when Hordak falls through the trap door, but that is another post for another time...


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Royal Palace outskirts #2

Here I present another image from the season two He-Man episode "Fraidy Cat." After finding out that Queen Marlena has been captured by the Evil Warriors the Heroic Warriors immediately set out to find her in quite possibly the worst vehicle ever! Again showcasing the outskirts of the Royal Palace we can see just how strong the walls of the Royal Palace are; the individual stones proving to be far larger than the heroes themselves.


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Heroes of Mondor.

"The Mines of Mondor" is one of my favorite She-Ra episodes; a breath of fresh air. Granted, it's just a rescue plot, but it's executed so much better than most of the others. The background artists were given new locations to paint, finally breaking away from the Whispering Woods and the Fright Zone! Some of the images in this episode are incredibly memorable, and below I present to you one of those very images. Very rarely does a shot look so beautiful; the heroes looking across Kyrtis' landscape as the breeze gently brushes against them. And yes, Filmation animated the hair and the capes!

Royal Palace outskirts #1

"Fraidy Cat" from He-Man's season two opens up with the Evil Warriors preparing to sneak into the Royal Palace and capture Queen Marlena. Surprisingly this brings about some new beautiful painted images of the Royal Palace, mainly the outskirts which we very rarely see. In this image we can see just how the Royal Palace is built on top of lots of uneven ground. The extremely jagged rock formations beg the question of how this location can look so stunning, and yet be built in such an odd manner! If you look carefully at the image you can see that the path the villains tread goes past a large rock, and down a small staircase.


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The Great Eternian Dam.

Here is a panning shot of one of Eternia's greatest technological wonders, the Great Eternian Dam from "Island of Fear", the season two He-Man episode with the strikingly original plot! This is a great piece of Filmation artwork, and this assembled image shows just how big the dam is. What is unfortunate is that the series never revisited the dam again, or even mentioned it in passing. Maybe this is what makes "Island of Fear" such an original episode?


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Castle Ackle.

One of my favorite pieces of Filmation background artwork is shown in the season one He-Man episode "Orko's Missing Magic." Amazingly the background does not represent Eternia at all, this time focusing on the planet Omiros and specifically the stronghold of the evil wizard Zalt, Castle Ackle! I always love it when a background evokes a feeling of sheer wonderment, and a feeling of what it would be like to exist in such a location. Everything about this panning shot is beautiful; from the twisted ground, to the mist covered mountains in the background, to the intricate detail on Castle Ackle itself; you know that this one piece of artwork must have taken a long time to create! I would say it was worth it...


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